Renewable energy

Wales has saved 4 million tonnes of CO2 through just over 51 thousand low carbon energy projects, a seriously significant figure and 43% of Wales’ electricity through was through renewables in 2016.

In fact, Wales is home to the second largest offshore wind farm in the world – Gwynt y Môr – capable of generating enough low carbon electricity from renewable sources to power the equivalent of approximately 400,000 homes; roughly a third of households in Wales. It’s actually one of 3 fully operational wind farms off the Welsh coast to add to around 97 wind projects on land, according to the Renewable UK database, with a total of around 760 turbines. There are a further 14 onshore projects currently under construction with combined capacity of 175MW that will soon be operational.

[DeltaStream being installed off Ramsey Island]

We can also boast the United Kingdoms first installation of a grid connected tidal energy generator. The DeltaStream demonstration device was installed in Ramsey Sound off the Pembrokeshire coast by Tidal Energy Ltd, and provided vital data in this ground-breaking field, helping to begin to unlock the potential of the sea for green energy production.

To help everyone in Wales to be as energy efficient as possible, Resource Efficient Wales offer helpful tips and advice; these are for homes, communities and businesses, to improve energy efficiency and save money.

Our National Assembly building the Senedd leads by example. It is full of environmental features, reducing its impact on the environment and ongoing energy consumption. It is ventilated naturally, daylight is reflected to light the debating chamber, the earth heat exchanger system uses the ground as a heat source/sink to help warm or cool the building and rainwater is also collected to flush the toilets.

The Welsh Government has set up a number of programmes to help support you, your community or business become more resource efficient including:

Nest - Free home improvements to help hard to heat homes and reduce the cost of energy bills